Arms Around Me
by steepedinshadows419
Summary: Iris dwells on how Barry makes her feel safe. Barry/Iris. One-shot.


**A/N:** Requested on **tumblr** as Iris thinking about how safe and happy she feels in Barry's arms.

*****Many thanks to **sendtherain** for beta'ing.

*****I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

* * *

_"There's so much out there for us to be afraid of, and the thought keeps me up at night."_

_"How do you ever get back to sleep?"_

* * *

Everybody knows that touch is Barry's love language. If he likes you, you get anywhere from a pat on the back to a hug – to a _kiss_, if you're Iris West-Allen. But what nobody has yet to figure out, except maybe her dad Joe West, is that touch is also Iris' love language. At least when it comes to Barry Allen.

Growing up, she was always the one protecting him: from bullies, from her dad, from the judgment of those who would never dare to believe in the impossible. Some would say she didn't really feel safe or protected by him until he became the Flash, but that just wasn't true. Barry had always been her safe space, her solid ground, since the moment they'd met. Since before all the darkness that followed.

When Barry talked fast in a language that surely couldn't be English, Iris was amused, and often laughed. When his eyes lit up and he smiled at her, she smiled, and her heart skipped a beat. When he hugged her, she felt warm and content and happy. When he kissed her, she melted into him and let him dissolve her into oozy goo. And when he made love to her, there was nothing that existed but the two of them. There was a protective bubble around them that not even the most urgent emergency could break. It was his beautiful green eyes staring into her soul, his body giving her pleasure beyond measure - and truly, Iris couldn't imagine anyone else giving her something as heavenly as this.

She'd denied it until shortly before they started dating, but she always ached to touch him. He was her best friend in the whole world, and always had been, but as just friends she hadn't been able to touch him in all the ways one can touch another person.

_Well, I'm not in love with him __**or**__ attracted to him_, she would lie to herself.

But she would dream about touching him. Her dreams were safe from prying eyes or interrogations.

Somewhere deep down, she'd known he was the Flash from the beginning. Not a single other person had inspired in her the need to touch them the way Barry had, except for the Flash. And as it turned out, they were one and the same. She'd been mad as hell that he'd kept the secret from her, but also somewhat relieved…and scared. Because she knew she'd felt the same admiration and awe for the Flash as she'd felt for Barry; the heart-racing, lust-brewing, kiss-me-now feelings were a different matter. Now, there was no denying they were there. They'd been brought to the surface by Barry's disguise, and there was no coming back from that.

Iris has always liked to snuggle, and Barry has too. When they're together –especially as a couple; no longer afraid of crossing any lines – it increases tenfold. Iris puts on a brave face, but without Barry beside her, she falls apart. Not on the surface where she has responsibilities, but inside where her heart is breaking without him. She's lost him so many times, sometimes she wonders if it would be better not to have him at all to avoid the pain. But she throws the thought away as soon as it enters her mind. She would be so lonely, so empty, so void of passion without Barry in her life to share it with.

So when he sneaks up behind her to wrap his arms around her waist, causing a giggle to spill out of her; when she gasps, shaking, awake suddenly from a nightmare in the middle of the night, and he pulls her to him while still half asleep; when he presses his lips to her forehead or her shoulder or nuzzles his face in her neck… She feels grounded, protected, brave, unafraid, complete.

It makes her think that maybe touch isn't her love language, after all. Maybe it's Barry Allen's touch, and without it, her life would shatter.

* * *

_"Barry's by my side."_


End file.
